2008 Monster Energy AMA Supercross – Anaheim 3

Saturday marked the third and final Anaheim stop for the 2008 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series. Under typical February skies, both riders and fans seemed relieved to have dry conditions to close out the Anaheim trifecta. Earlier in the day, during one of the Lites practice sessions, Factory Yamaha’s Broc Hepler took a nasty spill, breaking his left thumb and forcing him to call it quits. Word has it that he has already booked a flight back home for a possible surgery. More bad news surfaced in the Yamaha camp as Grant Langston announced that he, too, was unable to race. A ruptured a blood vessel in his eye has temporarily left him virtually blind in one eye. With any luck they will both make a speedy recovery and return to the now disabled Factory Yamaha team to rejoin their teammates. Needless to say, the blue team was shorthanded at A3. The rest of the field seemed focused, poised, and ready for some electrifying battles. Ryan Dungey and Jason Lawrence set the fastest lap times during practice, but the entire Lites field dialed in the track quickly and were excited to start racing. Chad Reed threw down the fastest practice lap with Red Bull Honda’s Andrew Short Monster Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry just off the pace. And although James Stewart was sidelined for the remainder of the season, Timmy did not race alone. Monster Energy/Kawasaki announced on Friday that they signed the very talented fan favorite Travis Preston. So with a fresh track, some pre-race injuries, and a re-introduction of a familiar face, the scene was set for the final Anaheim.

SUPERCROSS LITES HEAT 1The gate dropped for the first Lites race of the night, as the crowd and racers roared to life. In the first turn, the holeshot went to the KTM backed Dan Reardon. Jake Weimer followed closely behind with Jason Lawrence sticking closely in 3rd. Troy Lee Designs’ Chris Gosselaar settled into 4th. By the 3rd lap positions stayed the same for the top 1, 2, and 3. With 2 laps to go, the top three found their rhythm and added speed. They began to bunch up and the crowd again cheered in approval. On the final lap J-Law put on a hard charge clogging all 3 into the tight last corner. A slight bobble by Reardon let Jake Weimer jump into the top spot. Lawrence, coming in hot with a sense of urgency brake checked Reardon, causing him to lay it over at the base of the finish line double and took 2nd. Reardon could not re-start his bike at the base of the finish double and the rest of the class railed by him like a stranded motorist on the 405, sending Dan into the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ).

SUPERCROSS LITES HEAT 2The holeshot went to the rarely seen Tiger Lacey. He was quickly passed in turn 3, by the very focused Austin Stroupe and Ryan Dungey. At the end of lap 1, Austin Stroupe led the pack with Dungey close in 2nd and Justin Brayton in 3rd. Pro Circuit’s Brett Metcalfe settled into 4th place. Toward the end of lap 2, Ryan Dungey executed a beautiful pass for the lead. Tiger Lacey receded back to 4th and eventually 5th as the hard charging Metcalfe passed him. Ryan Dungey comfortably rode to the top spot as Stroupe amd Brayton rounded out the top three. Brett Metcalfe settled for 4th.

SUPERCROSS HEAT 1After the Lites took their first turn on the tack, the premier class lined up at the gate. Into the first turn, to no one’s surprise, Mike Alessi grabbed another holeshot. Alessi’s lead was short-lived as Davi Milsaps and fellow red rider Andrew Short made quick moves in the first rhythm section to pass the master starter. Shorty wasn’t finished yet, and made stronarmed pass on Davi just before the end of lap 1. Short started to pull away leaving Davi and Alessi searching for more speed. Nick Wey powered his MDK/KTM into 5th and rode solid throughout. Travis Preston, in is first race back settled into 6th. Andrew Short made a small bobble in one of the steepest bowl turns on the track, almost letting Milsaps and Alessi by. He recovered fast enough to keep his top position. Alessi, however, did benefit taking 2nd away from Davi Milsaps, only to have the favor returned on lap 6. During laps 6 and 7 the top three were evenly spread out with the 2 Honda warriors leading the charge. Davi found a burst of speed toward the end attempting to throw a wheel in and pass Shorty, but couldn’t get around the proud new father before the checkers flew. Travis Preston’s heat went relatively well claiming the last transfer position.

SUPERCROSS HEAT 2Kevin Windham blasted into the first turn of the second heat grabbing the holeshot. Heading through the second turn and into the first rhythm section, Chad Reed and Nathan Ramsey chased K-Dub. Chad made short work of Kevin, timing everything perfect and eventually catching Windham, causing him to crash. With K-dub down, Nathan Ramsey and Antonio Balbi were able to take 2nd and 3rd. Reed had all but checked out leaving Ramsey, Jeff Gibson, and Antonio Balbi to fight amongst themselves. By lap 5 Reed was almost 10 seconds ahead of his Yamaha teammate Ramsey. Kevin Windham regrouped and made his way through the pack and eventually claimed 3rd. Reed soared calmly over the finish line double 13 seconds ahead of 2nd place Nathan Ramsey.

SUPERCROSS LITES LCQAfter a big first-turn pile-up, Robbie Kiniry came out clean as the leader and holeshot winner. After his unfortunate last turn problem from Heat 1, Dan Reardon also went down in the first turn mash and settled into 8th place. Kiniry rode a somewhat consistent few laps until Tommy Hahn produced a clean inside pass taking the lead with 3 laps to go. The standings remained the same with Tommy Hahn claiming first when all was said and done.

RESULTS1-THOMAS HAHN2-ROBERT KINIRY

SUPERCROSS LCQKyle Mace rocketed over the chalked line, taking the holeshot just before turn one. By lap 2 Troy Adams had taken the lead only to case the triple and let Kyle Mace back into 1st. Jacob Marsack followed in the 3rd position. Troy Adams re-gathered himself and again made a charge eventually passing Kyle Mace and never looked back. #921 Manuel Rivas Gomez snuck up on the front 2 and made a perfectly smooth pass, grabbing the last qualifying position for the Main event.

RESULTS1-TROY ADAMS2-MANUEL RIVAS GOMEZ

SUPERCROSS LITES MAIN EVENTThe crowd came back to life as the Lites Class throttled up awaiting for the gate to drop. Austin Stroupe railed along the inside sand section and into the lead. Jason Lawrence showed his aggression in the middle of lap 1 and made an immediate charge for Austin. Jason took off and never looked back. Austin Stroupe re-grouped and set his pace trying to knock a few seconds off each lap, but simply couldn’t match the pace of J-Law. Kyle Cunningham and Brett Metcalfe strategically held down the 3rd and 4th positions with 10 laps to go. The field spread out as Dungey put all he had into his bad start, working his way through the pack. Just as he was making some headway, he launched off one of the larger triple jumps viciously landing on Wil Hahn and bounced clear off the track. Thankfully, both were okay. Dungey remounted only to wash out 2 turns later from what looked like the result of sheer exhaustion from the previous crash. Shaking his head in frustration he fired his Suzuki back up and eventually made his way back to the 11th position.Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence continued to widen his lead over Stroupe, Kyle Cunningham, and Brett Metcalfe. Billy Laninovich rode strong all race and began to catch the 3rd and 4th spots. With almost 4 laps remaining both Brett and Billy found the speed needed to pass Cunningham and began their own short-lived battle. 1st thru 4th seemed evenly spaced as the main came to an end. To the crowd’s approval J-Law railed the last turn and up and over the checkered flag. This was J-law’s night and he was obviously stoked. Austin came across the line a respectable 2nd place and Brett Metcalfe rounded out the podium spots. The battered Ryan Dungey settled for 11th place.

SUPERCROSS MAIN EVENTWith the top gate pick, Chad Reed made quick work of the race, grabbing the holeshot in a very aggressive inside move. Kevin Windham followed close with Davi Milsaps and Tim Ferry in 4th. Mike Alessi neglected to grab this holeshot but did come out in the 5th position. K-Dub showed signs of life early on as he made a variety of attempts to stick his front end in for the pass over the #22. Reed wanted nothing to do with it and seemed to take off each time Windham would get too close. Davi Milsaps applied pressure to the front two while Tim Ferry cautiously caught up to the pack. By lap 4 the top four were evenly spaced by only a few seconds. #14 again found added time and tried to pass Reed in the same rhythm section for the next few laps. Due to a medical caution flagging on lap 11, all were forced to roll the finish line double, allowing the top four bunch up again. As soon as the caution was lifted, Reed decided he had enough and simply checked out. In classic Reedy fashion, he put on a well-calculated display of consistent riding and inspiring style. Well behind, Andrew Short, who looked fast all day, started to mount a charge but got stuck behind Alessi. He was following rather than making his own lines for the pass. They did have a few exciting moments exchanging positions multiple times with Shorty finding a new lines and making one of his passes finally stick. Toward the end, Davi created some brilliant lines and passed Windham never to return. Tim Ferry who also looked fast all day, passed Windham as K-Dub simply looked out of sync and winded (although we were later told that K-Dud blew his front tire and was simply maintaining and doing his best to keep the rubber side down). Both Milsaps and Ferry put in a late charge toward Reed, but it was too little too late. Reed put it on cruise control reminiscent of the Carmichael or Stewart days. Reedy calmly took the main event win.

f sheer exhaustion from the previous crash. Shaking his head in frustration he fired his Suzuki back up and eventually made his way back to the 11th position.Yamaha of Troy’s Jason Lawrence continued to widen his lead over Stroupe, Kyle Cunningham, and Brett Metcalfe. Billy Laninovich rode strong all race and began to catch the 3rd and 4th spots. With almost 4 laps remaining both Brett and Billy found the speed needed to pass Cunningham and began their own short-lived battle. 1st thru 4th seemed evenly spaced as the main came to an end. To the crowd’s approval J-Law railed the last turn and up and over the checkered flag. This was J-law’s night and he was obviously stoked. Austin came across the line a respectable 2nd place and Brett Metcalfe rounded out the podium spots. The battered Ryan Dungey settled for 11th place.

SUPERCROSS MAIN EVENTWith the top gate pick, Chad Reed made quick work of the race, grabbing the holeshot in a very aggressive inside move. Kevin Windham followed close with Davi Milsaps and Tim Ferry in 4th. Mike Alessi neglected to grab this holeshot but did come out in the 5th position. K-Dub showed signs of life early on as he made a variety of attempts to stick his front end in for the pass over the #22. Reed wanted nothing to do with it and seemed to take off each time Windham would get too close. Davi Milsaps applied pressure to the front two while Tim Ferry cautiously caught up to the pack. By lap 4 the top four were evenly spaced by only a few seconds. #14 again found added time and tried to pass Reed in the same rhythm section for the next few laps. Due to a medical caution flagging on lap 11, all were forced to roll the finish line double, allowing the top four bunch up again. As soon as the caution was lifted, Reed decided he had enough and simply checked out. In classic Reedy fashion, he put on a well-calculated display of consistent riding and inspiring style. Well behind, Andrew Short, who looked fast all day, started to mount a charge but got stuck behind Alessi. He was following rather than making his own lines for the pass. They did have a few exciting moments exchanging positions multiple times with Shorty finding a new lines and making one of his passes finally stick. Toward the end, Davi created some brilliant lines and passed Windham never to return. Tim Ferry who also looked fast all day, passed Windham as K-Dub simply looked out of sync and winded (although we were later told that K-Dud blew his front tire and was simply maintaining and doing his best to keep the rubber side down). Both Milsaps and Ferry put in a late charge toward Reed, but it was too little too late. Reed put it on cruise control reminiscent of the Carmichael or Stewart days. Reedy calmly took the main event win.